Ice dam risk in Sparks, NV
Will your roof get ice dams in Sparks, NV?
1.3 dam days a winter
Low risk. On an ordinary house in Sparks, conditions for an ice dam come on about 1.3 days in a normal winter, mostly in January and February.
Sparks averages 7 inches of snow a year and about 6 days with snow on the ground. Most of it comes and goes within a few days. The conditions that make a dam need all three at once: snow, cold at the eave and heat above it.
What your attic does to that number in Sparks
| Attic | Dam days | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Air-sealed and well insulated | 1.2 | Low |
| Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed | 1.3 | Low |
| Older or poorly insulated, warm attic | 1.4 | Low |
The attic matters less in Sparks than in colder towns: there are only 0.1 days a winter between a typical attic and a sealed one.
What to do about ice dams in Sparks
- Check the gutters before the first snow and clear them, so meltwater has somewhere to go. If you see icicles thicker than a finger along the eave after a storm, that is the early sign to look at the attic.
Snowy places are not always the worst: why snowfall misleads.
Sparks winter, month by month
| Month | Snow (in) | Days on ground | Dam days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 2.2 | 2.5 | 0.6 |
| February | 1.0 | 1.6 | 0.3 |
| March | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.1 |
| April | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| November | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.1 |
| December | 1.7 | 1.0 | 0.2 |
Sparks next to nearby towns
Sparks ranks 4 of 10 Nevada cities here for ice-dam days, behind Elko at 14.0 days.
- Reno, NV 7 mi, 3.1 days
- Fernley, NV 28 mi, 0.4 days
- Carson, NV 29 mi, 1.9 days
- Truckee, CA 30 mi, 36.3 days
- South Lake Tahoe, CA 47 mi, 2.1 days
Where these numbers come from
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Sparks, 1.6 miles from Sparks. A dam day is a day with snow on the roof and freezing at the eave while heat or sun melts the snow above it. This describes a normal winter, not this one.